Review: A Duke to Remember by Kelly Bowen

Reviewed by Jen

If you enjoyed Duke of My Heart, you’ll definitely enjoy this second story in the Season for Scandal series. It’s almost just like the first one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s got its own particulars; it’s not a carbon copy. But it features a chameleon of a fixer and a duke who needs her help; a pair that falls in love as she works to save his family. Like the first book, I enjoyed it. It’s quick and engaging, with a romance that’s easy to root for. And it holds up just fine as a standalone.

Elise de Vries uses her skill as an actress and her past as a wartime tracker to excel at her job at Chegarre and Associates. Her latest case involves a duchess who has wrongly been institutionalized for daring to claim her son is alive. The woman’s daughter hires Elise to find the missing duke to save the duchess and foil her cousin’s scheme to take the duchy for herself. The man has been presumed dead for years, and the only clue she has to help find him is a brooch he sent his sister when she got married.

Elise is very good at her job. That, combined with a bit of luck, lands her right in Noah Ellery’s path. The two have an instant connection, one that’s almost thwarted when he realizes she knows his true identity. There’s a reason he’s in hiding, and he wants no part of his title. Elise must convince him, while keeping him safe from the assassins his cousin has sent for him. She knows there’s no place for her in the life of a duke, but she can’t help falling for the kind, simple man Noah has become.

The romance actually moves pretty fast, which usually bothers me. But I liked these two so much, I found it easy to set that aside and enjoy their connection. I have to say I was a tiny bit disappointed by how easily Noah could talk, when his muteness destroyed his life as a child. He’s a really likeable hero, though. He’s been through so much, and it would be so easy for him to be bitter or hard, but he’s not. He saves people. He cares. And then there is Elise, who you’d think would be jaded or untouchable emotionally, but she falls so completely for Noah, it’s hard to think of her as the cold pretender you know she has to be to do her job.

The book really flew by and I think I would have liked a little bit more. I definitely want to know more about King. Some of his secrets are revealed here, and clearly, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. I look forward to unraveling the mystery.